Dont Be Afraid
by myblankie6
Summary: With Private gone, a huge storm, a power outage, what is a better chance to tell ghost stories. Skipper, Marlene, Kowalski, Rico, Beck and Stacy crowd around a small lantern as they tell their ghost stories. What are they about? And what will happen? Contains Skilene and rated M.


**This is my third Fanfic. Readers discretion is advised. Enjoy!**

"And check!" Kowalski says as he checked of the next item on his check list. "Isn't this fun?" Everyone moaned as a response to his question.

"Yeah, this is way better than having a dance party." Says the tan badger on the other end of the room talking her sister. Becky and Stacy have been hanging out with Marlene and the penguins, until a huge storm allowed them to stay in their habitat. Thunder clapped outside, followed by a roll of thunder shortly after.

"Oh come on! Don't you want to learn more about precipitation and the water cycle? What is a better way than teaching it in a storm?" Kowalski continued.

"Kowalski, we aren't as enthusiastic about science like you are. Maybe it's best if we do something else we all enjoy." Marlene pointed out. Everyone nodded; Kowalski had no other choice but to agree.

"Alright," Kowalski moaned. "What should we do then?" Silence. Another flash of light filled the dimly lit room. Kowalski turned to look at the window, although he couldn't see anything. It seemed like the whole storm was going to last for the whole night.

"What a strong storm we are having." Skipper said, trying to break the silence. "I never suspected the weather man to be right. He did say we were going to have a big storm, but I never expected it to be this big."

"I agree Skipper," Stacy replied. "We never had this big of a," She was cut off by her sister.

"Storm ever sense we arrived at the zoo. Man I love this zoo." Beck cued. "We have dance parties,"

"Pillow fights, cook offs." Stacy barged in. The two badgers jabbered on and on about what they like to do at the zoo, which lasted for five minutes until they were cut off by a flash of lightning and the loud roar of thunder. Everyone jumped at the sound of it.

"I hope Private is alright. I know he hates storms." Marlene said while she was talking to skipper in a corner of the large room. "I hope he is safe at Rodgers."

"I'm sure Private is alright, Marlene." Skipper comforted Marlene. He reached his flipper over to her hand to hold it. She was glad to take it, and gave him a I know but I can't stop worrying about him look. Skipper smiled as he gave her a Stop worrying about him, he will be fine look. They both smiled and let go of each other's hands.

A bright flash came from outside the tiny window. The sudden shake from the HQ frightened everybody in the room and caused them to jump.

"Guys are you still there?" Yelled Becky and Stacy simultaneously.

"Rico! Lantern!" Skipper cried out, as it came so dark that he couldn't see his own flipper in front of his face. The faint burping sound came from the penguin's mouth and the dark room was filled with a small circle of light.

"Skipper what on earth was that?" Questioned the two shaking badger sisters simultaneously.

"It seems the power has gone out." Kowalski answered the girls, even though they asked for Skipper. "A bolt of lightning must have hit the power towers and knocked out the zoos power."

"Groun cran whe gratch reve?" Asked Rico in his hard to understand voice. But everyone knew what he said, how would we watch TV?

"Well, we shouldn't just sit here doing nothing." Marlene spoke out to her fellow friends. Anyone have any ideas of what we should do?"

"We could tell," Becky started, but was cut off by Stacy.

"Ghost stories!" Cheered Stacy.

"Hey spoilers." Becky whined.

"Sorry, got excited." Apologized Stacy.

"Yeah ghost stories, what a great idea girls. Also Private isn't here so he won't get scared." Skipper added. "Who wants to go first?"

"Oh I do, I do!" Cheered Becky. "These two badger sisters,"

"Named Becky and Stacy, who are toats awesome." Stacy interrupted.

"Were walking through the mall on their monthly get together." Becky was cut off again by her sister. "Even though they did it every day, but any ways."

"They were on their way to their favorite store, Barns and Nobles, when it happened," Becky continued with the frightening tale.

"I tripped on a penny!" Stacy cried out in shock. Marlene gasped in shock even though it wasn't scary.

"Wow girls that was scary." Marlene said. "You girls gave me goose bumps. Who is next?"

"I'll go." Kowalski raised his hand. Everyone moaned as they prepared to hear the terrible story Kowalski had to share. "It goes like this. It was a normal work day for a scientist at a lab. Except that it was thundering and lightning outside," He was interrupted by the talkative badger Stacy.

"So it wasn't a normal day?" She questioned. Kowalski shot her an angry glance.

"Shut up!" He spitted out. Rico, who was sitting right next to him in the circle they made around the lantern, wiped away a few drops of spit on his face. Rico was annoyed, but Kowalski continued with his story. "He was almost done at cracking the impossible equation that has stumped scientists for millions of years. 'How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?' He went over to his white board to check his math when he saw it! His greatest fear! E really did equal Mc squared!" Kowalski was in tears, he was so scared by is no so scary tale. It wasn't even a ghost story.

"Ahh!" The two Badgers cried, hugging each other. "Wait I don't get it." Kowalski ignored them.

"I can't believe I said that. Oh man it was so scary!" Everyone looked at each other, their faces blank from the horrible story there friend told them.

"Okay then," Marlene spoke up.

"Ours was better." Becky whispered into Stacy's ear, she made sure to say it loud enough so everyone could hear her. A few snickers came from the otter and the general.

"Any way, you wanted to hear my story?" Marlene asked.

"Yes!" Skipper blurted out, he regretted the moment he said it. "Um, I mean, sure."

"Have any of you been in love." She asked her friends, who were not expecting that question. Everyone turned to look at both Marlene and Skipper, but also Rico and his love for Miss Perky. Marlene blushed then she continued. "Well, some people would go very far to return the affection of another. They even kill to be with them." Marlene spoke bluntly. "Let's just say about twenty years ago, there was a red fox that lived close to where I live know. This Fox went by the name of Arnold. One day he was taking a stroll of the zoo, of course when the zoo was closed for some odd reason, when he came across another fox." Marlene set the story for her friends. Skipper crossed his feet as Kowalski and Rico did the same.

"He saw this fox and by golly his heart must have stopped. She was absolutely gorgeous. She had this soft white coat that was almost as soft as silk, and her eyes were a beautiful shiny green. So naturally stunted by how beautiful she was; old Arnold fell down onto the ground. He must have cursed something fierce when he fell, which got the attention of the pretty arctic fox that he had his eyes on. She walked over from the plaque of the abandon habitat she was looking at to help him up. Right away he apologized for him being so loud, and she told him to think nothing of it. They hit it off right there, talking, laughing and joking up a storm. It must have gone a few minutes later then he had expected it to, and he asked her name as he got up to leave." The otter continued telling her friends with the haunting tale.

"She said her name was Rosemary, right before she planted a kiss on his lips." The brown otter chuckled, her friends smiled nervously as they didn't expect it was coming in the story. "They went at it right then and there. He kissed her back with all that passion, and they continued to get hot and bothered until they eventually had sex right there in the abandoned habitat for the whole morning." Becky whence

"Eww. They made love in an abandoned habitat!" She whined

"How horrid." Stacy finished her sentence.

"Yes they did, can I get back to the story." Marlene shot back at them. They nodded, so Marlene continued along with the story. "So as I was saying, they did it the whole morning, and they were finally too exhausted to continue. Arnold, at this point was absolutely falling in love with Rosemary, as she cued him into submission the entire time. Playing that I am much more attractive than your wife card, Arnold fell for it of course. Then as she was lying beside him on the morning dew covered grass, she leaned into his ear and whispered something into his ear that chilled him to the bone." The penguins and the sisters waited for her to continue, she wasn't.

"Well, what is it?" Skipper asked, moving his flipper closer to Marlene's hand, she gladly took it. Marlene gave a half smile.

"She told him that they couldn't be together as long as he had a wife. He had to get rid of her, permanently." The room was once again quiet, minus the howling of the wind and the now soft pitter patter of the rain against the HQ. "So sure enough, wanting to adore his new found love any way he could, Arnold returned to his habitat that night, and went to sleep with his loving wife, who cared the world for him. She even had the same color coat as old Arnold, as if she was meant to be with him. After about an hour of her sleeping, Arnold got up, and grabbed the knife he hid underneath his pillow, and raised the knife over his dearly beloved wife. It took him a while to bring himself to lower the knife."

She paused; no one dared to speak up. Becky and Stacy huddled closer to each other, wrapping their arms around each other. Skipper, who was still holding on to Marlene's had, gripped harder on her hand, his face wore a scared and concerned look. Kowalski and Rico sat on the edge of their seat. Marlene looked at all of their worried faces, and then smiled.

"When he finally put himself to lower the knife, he made it fall faster than he intended to. A splash of blood flew out of his wife's body. He kept stabbing her over and over again, he couldn't make himself stop. Finally after about five minutes, Arnold made himself stop. His once beloved wife laid dead in a pool of blood on their bed. Before Arnold left his habitat, he cleaned up the bed, leaving no trace of blood, and disposed of the corpse. Arnold walked back to the abandoned habitat that same night to give the good news to his new found lover. Once he was there he looked at the plaque that she was staring at earlier that same day. And what he saw made his blood run cold." Marlene paused, leaving her friend's suspense. Kowalski reluctantly spoke.

"What did he see?" Marlene turned her head to look at the terrified Kowalski dead in the eyes.

"He saw what was engraved on the plaque. Here is the once habitat of the arctic fox Rosemary, a widow and mother of three pups. You would never be forgotten. She has been dead all along." This time it was Rico who had the shivers run up his spine. Kowalski quickly followed in his footsteps.

"Whoa, that was good." Stacy spoke, her body still held on to her sister.

"Yeah Marlene, that was a creepy story." Kowalski told her with a bit of shakiness in his voice.

"But I think I have one better." Skipper said. "Cause this really happened." Marlene and Rico set their full attention in Skipper as he began to speak. "I'm pretty sure this was before any of us were born, but your parents probably remember it very well." Skipper was interrupted by Marlene's raised hand.

"My parents are in California." Marlene spoke. Skipper was astonished.

"I know Marlene, but didn't they tell you before they left? Did anyone's parents tell them about the story of the penguins who used to live here about twenty five years ago?" Everyone shook their heads. No one has heard of the creepy story that Skipper was sure they knew.

"No Skipper, remember we were taken from Antarctica when we were young. And our parents are dead." Kowalski told his friend. Skipper's eyes widened.

"You're joking right? How could you not know? Hasn't Bert told you? You know that Fat elephant!" Skipper was furious. Marlene put her hand on his shoulder.

"Cool it Skipper." Marlene calmly spoke. "None of us have asked or have family members that have told us."

"Well, what happened Skipper?" Stacy asked. Skipper tried to relax himself, at least enough to calm his breaths before talking.

"Well, one day I was hanging out at Bert's habitat when he asked me if I knew anything about the old penguins that have lived here. I told him no, so he told me the story. And it turned out that the wife of the family did do something very horrible. She got arrested and got locked up in a cage by some zoo keepers for it." Kowalski and Rico looked at him in concern.

"This happened right here in the Central Park Zoo, and I didn't even know about it? What happened here?" Kowalski asked. The light seamed to get dimmer.

"It's pretty bad, Kowalski. What Bert said there was a family of penguins. A mother, a father, and a son. The mothers name was Starshine. She was a very beautiful penguin. Her black suit was almost misty. She was admired by the whole zoo and its guests. She loved her husband and her son very deeply. Until one day, her husband got transferred to another zoo. After that she," Skipper trailed off.

"She what Skipper?" Marlene asked concerned. Skipper looked over at Marlene sadly.

"I don't know if I should say. You know no one should speak ill of the dead." The general told his friends. His friends moved closer to Skipper. That way they were sitting close to their friend who was slowly calming down and trying to stop himself from shaking. "Maybe this ghost story thing was a bad idea." The penguin spoke quietly.

"According to my calculations, it's not speaking ill of the dead if you're just telling us what happened.

"Kowalski is right, dear. I would like to know what happened as well." Marlene said comfortingly to her love. Skipper took a deep breath which seemed to be in sync with a crack of thunder that came from the outside.

"Alright," The general began." After her husband left her she became very distraught, so distraught she decided to take it out on her son, Shawn. He was only ten months old, but Starshine didn't care. She began taking his food away, leaving him to starve. She would also beat him day and night and keeping him in isolation from the rest of the zoo, Shawn became more pined up than ever. He tried to fight her back one day, which made her furious. Starshine grabbed a random stick that was lying on the ground and," Skipper found himself at a loss for words and he stared at the ground. The tiny lantern barely illuminated the cement floor. "She gorged out both of that poor chick's eyes and let him bleed to death right there on the floor." Skipper spoke at nearly the volume of a whisper. The velocity of the storm had died down and all that could be heard was the faint rumble of thunder.

Skipper looked at all his friends, who were shaking with fear. The two badger sisters looked like they were about to cry. And Rico, well his facial expression was hard to tell, but Skipper knew he was scared. Skipper poked at the lantern to brighten the light a little before continuing. "She tried to cover up the death of her son, by covering the corpse with a few sheets, but when a few zoo keepers were cleaning out her habitat, they found the corpse and through her in a cage, never to be seen again by anyone. They kept her locked in her cage for a very long time. Until one day, when a zoo keeper was going to bring her evening meal. They found her body laying lifelessly on the floor. She had bled to death after her eyes had been forcefully removed. What's even stranger were the words written on the wall of her cage. The killer had taken Starshines blood and written three simple words."

Skipper sat quietly for a moment, her friends said nothing, although they seemed to be trembling. Skipper lifted his head from viewing the lantern to get a better look at them. Skipper jumped at his friends expressions. They sat there looking at him shaking violently with looks of horror on their faces. They were looking at him, no not at him. Skippers body stiffened as his friends slowly scooted away from him, their eyes were wide and their mouths gaped in terror. Skipper soon realized that they were looking behind her. Skipper himself began to shake violently, sweat forming on his forehead dripping down onto the cold ground. He dared not to turn around.

"Sk- skip-Skipper," Becky managed to speak before plunging her head back into her sister's arms. Stacy couldn't speak, she was completely in shock, everyone was.

"Three words that were written on the cages wall were," The petrified penguin spoke shakily, slowly looking at the glass of the lantern. His heart stopped when he saw his reflection. Behind him was the face of a young chick, his fur was completely pale and matted like it was wet, two large black holes were where his eyes were supposed to be. Skipper's blood ran cold as he felt a chilling breath touch his neck. The breath uttered three simple words he could not repeat.

'Don't be afraid'.

**Did I scare you? Hope you liked it! Please write a comment.**


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